As expected, the Elon University football team indeed is in the market for a new defensive coordinator.

Western Michigan officially announced the hiring of Ed Pinkham on Monday as its defensive coordinator. He served Elon in that capacity during the last two seasons.

Pinkham has a connection to P.J. Fleck, who was introduced as the new coach at Western Michigan in mid-December. They were assistant coaches on the Rutgers staff in 2010 – Pinkham as co-defensive coordinator and Fleck as receivers coach.

A week after Fleck came on board last month in Kalamazoo, Mich., internet reports linked Pinkham as the coach who would be hired to direct the Broncos’ defense.

“He is one of the best recruiters I have ever been around,” Fleck said of Pinkham, in a statement released Monday by Western Michigan. “He has a passion for coaching and teaching young people and is one of the best defensive minds in the country.”

The 59-year-old Pinkham has spent 38 years in college coaching.

He was the oldest member of Jason Swepson’s coaching staff at Elon and served as acting coach in September of this past season, when Swepson was hospitalized due to chest pains.

Pinkham is a well-traveled defensive coordinator. Before arriving at Elon in February 2011, he was in charge of defenses at New Hampshire (1983-88), Holy Cross (1992-95), Colgate (1996-2007) and Rutgers (2009-10).

Western Michigan’s other hire Monday, new offensive coordinator Kirk Ciarrocca, also was an assistant at Rutgers with Pinkham and Fleck.

Ciarrocca most recently worked as the quarterbacks coach at Richmond in 2011 and the running backs coach at Delaware in 2012. He was Delaware’s offensive coordinator from 2002-07, a period in which the Blue Hens won the FCS national championship with Joe Flacco at quarterback.